The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-09-10

The takers in the country store at Sweetbrier put warmth and blood and vitality into their speech. No cul- tured malaria enfeebles the themes spoken at the Bulls Head.
 But the sewing circle! There is a fairy story which children love to read, all about prince who was seek ing his way to throne that really belonged to him, and of which he had been unjustly deprived how he was assisted by some wonderful compan- ions he was lucky enough to stumble across, and how one of these was named Fine Ear. Every member of the sewing circle is Fine Ear, so far as gossip is concerned. There is no ripple ill the current of village affairs but is drawn to this enchanted vortex The faintest whisper is echoed there, as the famous whispering gallery of St. PauPs. Wise Egeria is always present, and sometimes they have strawberry and other festivals, to which canny Numa is invited. The Sybilline books of village lore are then fully opened.
 Did you ever eat piece of down. east pie? The women of Sweetbrier pride themselves on their skill in this line. 1 took slice out to the wood- shed slyly and tried to chop it, finally turning the edge of the axe as the sole result of my perspiring endeav- ors. These pies are white as chalk, tough as sole leather, and are war ranted to knock out John Sullivan in one round, Marquis of Queensberry rules. Pie and doughnuts for break fast, dinner and supper, are always in season, and are the regular ornaments of a Sweetbrier farmhouse table.
 Perhaps this monotonous diet is the cause of the abundance of false teeth in Sweetbrier. Every woman has counterfeit set of worries, and the fun niest thing about the whole matter is that they are proud of the fact and are really anxious to have you know they possess these articles of luxury. No damsel is considered fairly pre- pared to enter society unless she has graduated with due honor from the dentists chair. In the morning the style among the belles of ofSweetbrier is to go about their household duties with plain, smooth gums and their bangs done up in curl papers. In the afternoon the teeth are deftly clapped in, the curl papers artistically un- rolled and, lo. their reception toilet is complete.
 sammy went to chicken fight ar ranged by some boys in the village. He came back rather sad. Right here let me remark that if any young chap deludes himself with the sweet idea ttat the youthful mind of the Ameri- can orient isn't honed down to keen, smooth edge, he is guilty ofwhat may prove a costly error. For sharpness they can discount any college grad uate that ever sucked a liberal ed- ucation from the end of big cane. l came to the conclusion that Sammy learned more about birds on that af- ternoon than if he had taken a course in ornithology.
 It may sound paradoxical, but the young in the country are older than the city's youth. The children are, like Currer Bells children, little old men and women. They develop into a youth without its traditional open hearted artlessness, nay, with all the jugglery and hypocrisy that a hard experience of 50 years ought scarcely to produce. This is simply the fact as l observed it; let others more learned in sociology indicate the why and wherefore.
 And so the days passed quickly away. We did not stay in the house much, but were out nearly all the time, in the pine woods, climbing the hills, picking wild raspberries by the struggling stone walls, berries full of the sweet, rare flavor which our cul- tivated fruits lose entirely. Some- times we would follow a brawling brook for hours and hours, and many a speckled trout we landed to our amazing joy. We used to finger and listen where the pewee wove its mel ancholy thread of song.
 It was veritable camping out, with house over our heads at night in- stead of one of those disreputable tents that are not what they seem. We were actually 10th to leave our half-wild existence and return to the dusty paths of trade. But our time was up. One morning was awakened rudely and suddenly it must be that vegetable cart leaving the barn; no, it was dray numbering along the pave ments below. We were at home.
 Gtad srh.& IT. M.. IT,